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Giants’ Tollefson Started as Packers’ Final Pick

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Dave Tollefson thought back to a still-young football career and the barriers between high school and his current job as a rookie defensive end for the Giants.

There were shoulder and foot operations that kept him out of football for three years. There was an N.C.A.A. Division II college he had never heard of until he agreed to go there. There was his bouncing around from the Green Bay Packers to the Oakland Raiders to the Giants, with a stop in between with the Berlin Thunder of N.F.L. Europa.

And when he could not play because of injuries, there were nonfootball jobs.

“Six years ago this week,” he said Wednesday, “I was working for Home Depot in an inside garden selling fertilizers, bark and rototillers for $10.25 an hour. No commissions.

“A year later, I worked as a carpenter outdoors in the strong California sun. That was $15 an hour and I worked from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., so the money was O.K.”

“It’s going to be exciting,” he said. “I’ve got good memories of the team that drafted me. I hope for some more good memories Sunday. I’m not really bitter about my short career there. It’s just something that didn’t work out.”

At 6 feet 4 inches and 255 pounds, Tollefson is expected to play on most of the Giants’ special teams and may take a few turns on defense.

He has reached this point through sheer determination.

After high school success in Concord, Calif., as a tight end and linebacker, he played two years as an outside linebacker for Los Medanos Community College in nearby Pittsburg. Then Fresno State offered him an athletic scholarship as a defensive end. Tollefsongot there.

A right shoulder injury recurred, and he had surgery. A year later, another separated shoulder, another operation. A year later, a sprained foot, another operation. At least the medical bills were tolerable.

Photo

Dave Tollefson, left, a defensive end for the Giants, has fond memories of his short stay in Green Bay, among his many jobs.Credit
Chris Livingston/European Pressphoto Agency

“My mother was a teacher and had insurance there,” Tollefson said. “It cost me a co-payment of $5 an operation.”

His weight was down to 210 and his football career was stagnant until he received a call from a junior college teammate who was playing for Northwest Missouri State, in Maryville, Mo., about 1,700 miles away. He said Tollefson could get a scholarship.

In his senior year, N.F.L. scouts talked to Tollefson.“They all wanted to know about those three years I didn’t play,” he said. “They said: ‘Were you in prison? Tell us, because we have ways to find out.’ I don’t know if they believed what I told them.”

Being drafted does not necessarily mean playing. He was on the practice squads of the Packers in 2006 and the Oakland Raiders in 2007 until the Giants signed him three months ago. He did not make his N.F.L. debut until the last six games of the regular season, and then mostly on special teams.

One of his few chances on defense, against the New England Patriots on Dec. 29, resulted in a concussion. It happened, Tollefson said sheepishly, “because I tried to be too physical.”

In Sunday’s upset at Dallas, he was on the field for the Cowboys’ last two possessions and was credited with two tackles. He says he can do the job.

“I’m going to give you everything I’ve got,” Tollefson said. “I think I’m an every-down player. I can put pressure on the quarterback. I’m strong on the attack. But I play upright a little bit, and that’s bad for leverage.”

Tollefson seems to be a player on the rise, and he has impressed his teammates.

“He told us about his background,” defensive tackle Jay Alford said. “He took the tough road, but if you want to play this game, you take any road you can.”

Tollefson has support at home.

“Someone told my mother it was bad that I was in and out of college for seven years,” he said. “She said, ‘If your son was in school seven years and became a doctor, you wouldn’t think that was wrong.’ ”

Tollefson insisted he always believed his fortunes would change.

“As ridiculous as it sounds, yes,” he said. “I went back to college because what else was I going to do? I didn’t want to be a carpenter the rest of my life. I didn’t want to live in mediocrity the rest of my life.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: FROM HARD KNOCKS TO CRUNCH TIME: Giants’ Tollefson Started As Packers’ Final Pick. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe